The company is launching Presence, an iOS app that converts an existing iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone into a remote camera. The idea is that people have older versions of Apple devices lying around and this app can help people put them to use in a new way — as a home-monitoring service. Eventually, People Power’s CEO Gene Wong hopes the app becomes a control point for other connected devices in the home.

To that end, the firm already has deals with SimpliciKey, a connected lock company, and Monster, the cabling company that has a line of connected plugs that are similar to the Belkin WeMo. While the app is free for consumers to download, the hope is that manufacturers will strike deals to connect other devices through the app and sell them to customers there as well.

Already the Presence app offers a list of accessories that will help in the process of turning a portable device into a stationary remote camera. Stands, tripods, extra-long cables and extra chargers are all offered through the app. As for the rationale behind this switch from helping customers conserve energy to helping them monitor their homes (or pets), Wong said:

“One of the things we discovered is people don’t care enough about saving a few bucks and they don’t care about saving the planet. So what we have done by moving to Presence is we are tapping into things that people really care about: their family, their pets, their elderly parents, and … improving their safety and security.”

And what about the app? It’s incredibly simple to install and set up a camera. I was sharing my iPad as a remote camera with a colleague in less than 3 minutes. I don’t have any unused iOS products lying around, so my tests weren’t exhaustive by any means, but it has some nice features that are simple to enable.

Likes:

It has a simple user interface that allows you to set your camera up to share video and audio or video but not audio and vice versa. This is nice if you want to enable a picture but not have people overhear your conversations.

There’s a simple rules option that lets you set up if/then statements to “program” how the camera works.

You can darken the screen if you want to make the camera unobtrusive.

When someone logs into the account and can watch you, a message flashes on the screen letting those around the remote camera know it’s being monitored (this is printed in white so if the background is white, it doesn’t show up all that well).

The motion detection works well. When it’s triggered it will send a five-second video of whatever triggered it to your email. At that point you can log in and view the camera if you’d like.

Dislikes:

I worry about having any remote-controlled camera attached to the public internet in my home. Wong assures me the People Power cloud is safe, but I’m always cautious.

Wong detailed how one could use this as an easy way to create a videoconference for someone who isn’t technically savvy enough for Skype. Just load the app on an old device and ship it to grandpa with the log in and password. With a shared account you can create a face-to-face conversation. In practice though, finding the right buttons to share the video wasn’t easy.

This is a battery hog, so you do need to plug it in if you want this to run more than an hour or so. The company is clear about that, but it bears repeating.

So will People Power’s pivot help it conquer the internet of things after it couldn’t gain traction in the energy-management space? The app is nice and an Android version of it should come out later this year. I do know several people who have older iPhones or iPod Touches lying around the house that might get upcycled into the home monitoring job, but I don’t know how big that market is.

As far as home monitoring, it competes with Dropcam, new IP-based alarm system Scout, and apps like AirBeam or Koozoo. And its one-app-to-control-all plan is one that several companies from MobiPlug to SmartThings all have in their own sights.

In the meantime, Wong says People Power will continue to support those “thousands of customers” who use the energy-monitoring app until he can fold them gracefully into this new app if it succeeds. Perhaps the third (or fourth) time is the charm for People Power.

]]>The Y Combinator of cleantech — Greenstart — announced the latest batch of startups that will receive investment and guidance on Tuesday. The four startups that will enter the Greenstart program will include peer to peer bike sharing company Spinlister, energy software company People Power, energy optimization startup Root3 and PVPower, a web service for solar projects.

Each startup gets $115,000 and three months of marketing, design and business model guidance from Greenstart’s team. Previous startups that have gone through the program include the Android for battery startup GELI, and Scoot Networks, which makes an electric scooter sharing network. People Power has been around for a few years, and I’m interested to see how the Greenstart team tweaks their plans.

Earlier this year Greenstart restructured its program, and decided to focus solely on IT-based cleantech companies, and also boosted the size of its investment in the startups in its program. The pivot seemed like a good idea — early stage non-IT cleantech companies can be capital intensive to scale, can be difficult to vet without industry-specific experience, and also can take a long time to mature.

]]>Just what is People Power’s plan? The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup led by Bitfone creator Gene Wang launched with the promise of a complete technological answer to the home energy management market. But as I lay out in my weekly update at GigaOm Pro (subscription required), People Power has now opened its arms to a cloud-based enterprise platform approach, one that may involve targeting the office even more aggressively than the home.

On Tuesday, People Power launched its Energy Services Platform (ESP), a cloud-based service to control the energy use of devices made by others. While People Power has until now put a lot of emphasis on its in-house Open Source Home Area Network (OSHAN) networking and communications technology, ESP will be fully compatible with ZigBee and Wi-Fi-enabled devices, Wang told me last week.

People Power once planned to develop its own products, but Wang made it clear that the company now considers its customers to be the manufacturers of lights, thermostats, office equipment, home appliances, and other future energy-aware equipment. He compared the approach to Silver Spring Networks, the startup with networking gear inside many of today’s smart meters. “What they do for smart meters, we’re doing for manufacturers,” he said.

That’s a pretty significant shift from what most have made of People Power’s original plans, but it seems to make sense. The home energy management field is crowded with me-too startups competing against some huge players — Google’s PowerMeter, Microsoft’s Hohm, Belkin and Intel, to name a few. A platform that can manage disparate smart energy devices and technologies could be a big selling point.

People Power’s new list of what it calls active partners — Texas Instruments, D-Link, Ricoh, Energy Inc., Esprida and Stanford University — give a hint at how the platform-plus-technology approach may play out. Ricoh, for one, is interested in going “way beyond office equipment” like the copiers and fax machines it makes, to offer an integrated office energy management solution, said Daja Phillips, executive vice president of U.S. subsidiary Ricoh Innovations. While she wouldn’t give any specifics on how Ricoh will approach the market, the company is testing People Power’s platform to control a number of devices, she said.

Wang places emphasis on People Power’s open source approach to its technology mix (for more on that, read my report at GigaOm Pro, “Report: An Open Source Smart Grid Primer” (subscription required).) The company is also deep into smart grid standards development, he said. OSIAN (Open Source IPv6 Automation Network) is being developed alongside the IEEE 802.15.4g process, and ESP plans to support Smart Energy Profile 2.0 and other emerging standards.

As for the home energy management market, Wang pointed to its partnership with Energy Inc., maker of the Energy Detective — a device that also interacts with Google PowerMeter — as well as its ARPA-E funded partnership with Stanford University for examples of how it will still work on getting people engaged in saving energy. While Wang conceded that the home energy market will be harder to crack than the office market, he hinted at some potential partnerships for the company on that front — “Home entertainment tends to use a lot of power,” he noted.

]]>Verizon is looking to the cloud for help delivering hyper-local video-on-demand content through a partnership with Clearleap. A deal announced today will blend Clearleap’s cloud-based transcoding and content management technology with Verizon’s architecture, streamlining the workflow for partners that want to deliver their online video as part of Verizon’s local FiOS 1 VOD offering.

Verizon has rolled out the Clearleap technology to allow partners to deliver web-based video such as news, sports, traffic and weather to its VOD system, which Verizon will then use to process and redistribute to local markets. Some professional sports teams are using the technology to deliver their VOD technology directly to FiOS subscribers, including the New England Patriots, who have made VOD content available in certain markets through Verizon’s FiOS1 Local Zone.

Clearleap CEO Braxton Jarratt said Verizon is using the Clearleap system now rather than using traditional methods for manually processing VOD content. With Clearleap, Verizon is able to give each content partner its own login to manage its programming, which is transcoded and managed in the cloud before being delivered to local VOD systems. That saves Verizon the time and effort involved in processing the content — whether it comes from tapes or hard drives — locally, enabling the telco to add more content more quickly than it would have been able to do otherwise.

For now, the Clearleap system is being used for cloud-based management of MPEG-2 VOD delivery, but could also be used in the future for delivery of the same content in IP form to mobile devices and advanced set-top boxes. Clearleap has partnered with Roku, for instance, which could enable pay TV providers to make online video content available through Roku’s broadband set-top box. But Clearleap is also looking to add similar functionality on other over-the-top video devices.

]]>Just last week we noted how Cisco really only had one official smart grid product on the market, which it announced in May and was basically hardened networking gear for utility substations. Yeah, well scratch that. On Tuesday morning Cisco launched its all-out smart grid assault, including a home energy management product, a hosted residential demand response type service and upgrades to its building automation programs.

Cisco’s home energy product will no doubt generate the most buzz in tech circles, and here’s what it includes: Cisco will sell a “Home Energy Controller,” which is a touchscreen energy dashboard that it will offer to utilities for their residential customers (see image). Home owners can use the device to manage and monitor their energy consumption and utilities can use the device to connect with customers, show real time pricing, and even do demand response events.

The dashboard will run Cisco’s energy management software, and is meant to be placed on a countertop. The device has both Zigbee and Wi-Fi wireless communications enabled, and can connect with smart thermostats, smart appliances, and the utility back office.

Cisco Director of its Prosumer Business Unit Paul Fulton told us that third party manufacturers in Asia would be producing the actual device, but declined to name the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) involved. When I asked if the device would be made in the consumer-focused Linksys division, Fulton said that the product was specifically made for the utility market, but that to keep an eye out for upcoming energy-focused products from the Linksys division in the future.

Along with the home energy controller device, Cisco will offer hosted home energy management services, that can be used for utility demand response residential programs (enabling the utility to turn down energy consumption of its consumers at certain times of day). Hosted energy services also includes the ability to remotely upgrade devices with the latest software

Cisco will launch the home energy controller first with utility Duke Energy, which was one of its first utility customer partners announced last year. Cisco’s Fulton tells us that Duke will be piloting the technology in a 100-home trial this summer. That’s pretty small, but shows how conservative utilities can be when it comes to trialling new technology.

Cisco’s home energy product enters a market with a whole lotta players. Silver Spring Networks has its own home energy management software it acquired when it bought Greenbox, GridPoint has its own home energy software, which it grabbed though an acquisition of Lixar SRS, meter management company eMeter launched its own energy software service, and startups like Tendril have been building businesses around this market. And those are just some of the utility-focused plays — there’s many startups (like EnergyHub and People Power) that have launched consumer-focused energy devices.

Despite the wealth of players, the home energy management market is actually quite small right now, if not non existent. Consumers aren’t directly buying these products yet, and only a handful of utilities are trialling these devices in the pilot stage. But a variety of industries, from telcos and cable operators, to utilities to startups — and now Cisco — are trying to get into the market early.

In addition to Cisco’s home energy management product, the router giant also launched a variety of upgrades to its building energy management system. That includes the latest versions of its Cisco Network Building Mediator Manager 6300, and the Cisco Network Building Mediator 3.1.

For more research on the smart grid check out GigaOM Pro (subscription required):

]]>One of my favorite parts of last year’s Green:Net event was the launchpad section, where 10 companies that are using information technology in various ways to fight climate change launch themselves out of stealth mode or unveil interesting new products. So I’m very excited to announce this year’s 10 winners of the Green:Net 2010 launchpad. In addition to our list of speakers, which includes California Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, and investor Vinod Khosla, we can’t wait for the lineup on April 29. Drum roll please. . .

1). People Power: Wireless energy management startup People Power just released its software developer’s kit called SuRF (Sensor Ultra Radio Frequency) which is based on the open source platform OSHAN (Open Source Home Area Network). When open source meets home energy management, the potential is massive. The company plans to reveal new details about its strategy, plans and products.

2). Vecarius: Vecarius is using power electronics, energy harvesting, energy storage and advanced materials to increase the energy efficiency of vehicles. As co-founder William Sanchez explained to us recently, at the end of the day vehicle energy efficiency can be boosted through chips, software and computing. Vecarius says its patent-pending technology can “recapture a large portion of the 75 percent of energy lost in internal combustion engine and hybrid vehicles.”

4). Building Solutions: Building Solutions has developed software called “Home Performance Pro,” which is an easy-to-use, detailed and accurate home testing software, “built by energy auditors for energy auditors.” The stimulus package has allocated billions of dollars for “weatherization,” which is basically making buildings more energy efficient through things like upgrading insulation, heating and cooling systems, air filters and windows. The first step to knowing if a home needs these things is an audit.

5). GE: O.K. so conglomerate General Electric isn’t exactly a startup, but the company plans to announce an innovative new product for energy efficient backup power. We’ll hold the details for the launchpad event.

6). energics: If you thought the Smart Grid just arrived, get ready for Smart Grid 3.0 says the team at energics. The company has developed software that can develop patterns to dynamically drive process models, build context and relevance, and progressively “learn” and automate smart grid systems. If there’s something the smart grid sorely needs it’s automation deep within the network of the grid (see New Opportunities in the Smart Grid, on GigaOM Pro, subscription required).

7). ecoVouch: ecoVouch is a free web-based application for the iPhone that helps users find eco-friendly products and services close by. The folks behind ecoVouch plan to launch their platform that enables sustainable businesses to communicate effectively to participants through display ads, vouchers or a loyalty program, in a new and social way.

8). Soneter: “Know your flow.” That’s the motto behind Soneter’s meter technology that modifies water consumption behavior in the multifamily housing sector. The company’s product, which doesn’t require a retrofit or pipe cutting, tracks individual unit water use in real time and automatically bills them based on consumption.

9). Carbon Voyage: Carbon Voyage’s web site enables users to compare travel options based on both cost and environmental impact. The service will find opportunities to fill empty journeys (taxis), share trips and help customers move onto low carbon transport alternatives. Right now the London-based team is focused on the U.K., but has plans to expand into other markets.

10). ecoDomus: ecoDomus’ software and services provide intelligent analysis of a building’s performance, including helping with LEED compliance, and leading to better maintenance practices that result in significant energy savings. ecoDomus’ product integrates a Building Information Model, a 3D representation of a facility, and real-time facility operations data acquired via sensors.

The developer ecosystem for applications that will enable consumers to manage their home energy consumption is still very nascent. Mainstream consumers are largely not yet interested in buying home energy management gadgets, and Google’s web energy tool PowerMeter has only signed up a couple thousand users by early February.

But increasingly Internet companies and startups like People Power have been releasing developer kits and APIs (application programming interface) to encourage developers to design innovative software in this area. Earlier this month Google officially opened up the API of its web energy tool PowerMeter, and Microsoft also recently told us it just released a software developer kit for its energy tool Hohm to a select number of gadget makers. Eventually Microsoft wants to open up Hohm to any developer, too.

People Power’s technology takes the idea of open energy information one step further, and it’s built upon an open source platform for wireless sensor networks. People Power’s SuRF kit is built upon a project that came out of UC Berkeley, as part of the DARPA Networked Embedded Systems Technology (NEST) program, called TinyOS, which offers developers low cost open-source software and an operating system for wireless home networks. People Power says SurF enables developers to see how the applications would work throughout the development stage and can help developers create apps at a lower cost.

People Power, the latest Silicon Valley venture focused on the home energy management space — which officially launched in November — is banking that its open-source home area network platform and the innovation of developers will make it stand out in an increasingly crowded industry. The company raised an undisclosed amount in its first venture round from New Cycle Capital and several angel investors to support the commercialization of the company’s product launch. CEO Gene Wang — who previously led four startups, including Bitfone which he sold to Hewlett-Packard and Computer Motion which he took public in 1997 — told us that the company plans to ship products this year and will target three distribution channels: utilities, consumer electronics companies and direct sales to consumers.

SuRF can be pre-ordered now, but will start shipping in April. People Power is also holding a contest for the most compelling application built upon SuRF — the deadline is September 15, 2010 — and People Power will give the winner 5,000 shares of People Power stock, $5,000 and a free SuRF board.

The Facebook app asks users to pledge to “unplug” one or more home appliance from a list of 20 during Earth Day. The user selects how many hours those appliances will be turned off, and the app calculates the emissions avoided and what the rough equivalent would be in terms of miles driven in a car. “Unplug” users can invite friends, view their friends’ commitments, and track their collective emissions reductions. “If we band together then we can make a difference,” People Power Chief Executive Gene Wang told us.

People Power, which is backed by New Cycle Capital and plans to launch its core products later this year, aimed to make the app fast and easy to use. Based on my quick test drive, they’ve at least accomplished that. Whether the calculator receives “viral adoption,” as People Power made it clear it hopes for, of course remains to be seen. In addition to the app, the startup also decided to go musical — it launched the “People Power Band” (we’re not kidding) and produced a single called “Happy Birthday Mother Earth,” which is available for download on the company’s website.

The marketing push, effective or not, at least underscores People Power’s emphasis on the consumer. When I spoke with Wang before the startup’s launch last year, he told me one of the ways People Power would differentiate itself would be with a consumer-friendly product design. That could be a smart move if retail becomes a key distribution channel for home energy monitoring devices in a few years (after the current surge dominated by utility distribution deals).

There’s a variety of Facebook applications and iPhone apps already out there intended to help users cut carbon, by reducing home energy consumption and driving times in vehicles. Last March at Green:Net 2009 we featured a panel that looked at how difficult it’s been to start a web-based social movement around fighting climate change. However, sites like 350.org, founded by Bill McKibben, have more recently found some success at galvanizing young people on the web around “350,” the upper limit of carbon dioxide parts per million in the atmosphere. Leading up to the Copenhagen summit in October 2009, 350.org was able to help organize what it calls “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history,” with more than 5200 events in 181 countries.

]]>People Power, the latest Silicon Valley venture focused on the home energy management space, will officially launch today, hoping its consumer-friendly product design and open-source home area network platform will make it stand out in an increasingly crowded industry. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup has raised an undisclosed amount in its first venture round from New Cycle Capital and several angel investors to support the commercialization of the company’s product launch. “We think we can build something that is significantly better than what we’ve seen on the market so far,” founder and CEO Gene Wang told us.

The startup isn’t revealing much about the products themselves at this point, saying only that they’ll connect home fixtures and appliances like refrigerators to a “simple-to-install system that automatically cuts power consumption” and transmits data to a web-based portal, according to a release from the company. We saw Wang present his startup at the West Coast Green conference in San Francisco, where we learned that People Power is developing a suite of devices that can easily be connected to the major power hogs in a home and then wirelessly transmit energy use over the company’s open-source platform.

“GreenVent” would attach to a home’s heating and cooling system, “GreenHeat” to the water heater, “GreenDog” to the dryer, and “GreenSentry” to the electric meter if there’s no smart meter. There will also be a power strip to track the energy use of computers, TVs and other devices plugged into the wall, and the system would “learn” from past behavior so it could advise consumers, for example, to turn off an appliance at certain times of the day.

Wang has previously led four startups, including Bitfone which he sold to Hewlett-Packard and Computer Motion which he took public in 1997. (The company later merged with rival Intuitive Surgical after drawn-out patent disputes.) He said the products will start shipping next year, and People Power is targeting three distribution channels — utilities, consumer electronics companies, and direct sales to consumers. Wang and his team have been “talking to a number of utilities and been getting great feedback,” though he declined to name any of them.

Besides ease of use, People Power is banking that its adoption of an open-source home area network (HAN) will help it gain traction in the market. The startup is partnering with researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University to develop a long-range, wireless communication system they’re calling Open Source Home Area Network, or OSHAN (pronounced “ocean”), which will be free to download and use. Wang said it will be the first open-source HAN. “We hope to spur a wave of innovation by creating this free platform with free software and low-cost hardware widely available,” he said. “It will help lower our cost of development because we’ll have a community that is working on the technology for free.”

Wang said the startup’s open-source platform will be more reliable and compatible with other systems and devices, and it will be cheaper for third-party vendors to build applications than the communications platforms based on open standards currently being used by other players in the home energy management space. Those standards, such as wireless ZigBee, were designed for shorter ranges of 30-40 feet while OSHAN was designed for longer distances typical in a home, such as between the electric meter and the back of a house, Wang said.

Some analysts question if enough interest exists among consumers to warrant all the activity in this nascent industry. At the end of the day, the purpose of these technologies is to help users reduce their electricity bills. “Unless electricity prices spike, I don’t think homeowners in most areas of the country will save enough from these systems to provide meaningful economic relief,” Jacob Grose, smart grid analyst with Lux Research, told me. People Power is hoping many consumers disagree.

Invest in hard times. Intel invested heavily in capacity, and when it came out of the downturn, it was able to meet the pent-up demand faster than others.

Consensus is mostly good. Except when it is not. “There’s a time to let everyone twist the knobs and a time to make a decision,” Barrett says.

Follow the business, not Wall Street. No arguments about that, though in the case of start-ups, his advice is not to follow the pundits, media and others who are not your customer. “The job of the CEO is not to reward the short-term speculator of your stock, but to do a good job long-term for your shareholders, employees and customers,” he says. Look what happened to the old AT&T, which paid too much attention to Wall Street.